why not? I don't claim to be an emacs guru but there exist a good reason to automate coffee and tea making.

jokes aside.

Witness the popularity of 'pod' coffeemakers, which are selling well despite a tough economy.

Around here we have 'large volume' gas / convenience stores, with around 20 gas tanks at each store. They quickly became popular with the construction worker crowd, because they also keep a dozen flavoured coffee pots brewing, and lots of snacks. It takes some labour for employees to keep 6-12 pots brewing, and it takes more to keep tabs on flavour popularity.

the problem is that due to size considerations, it's just not feasible to have a motherboard devoid of common components, such as sound, video, and LAN. Since these things are standard (component quality notwithstanding) your choice is limited to finding a motherboard with the components you wish.

By the way, they're each made with a certain chassis and battery in mind.